Between The Lines
by Midnight Parallax
Summary: When the search for the cure gives Max the name of her mother, she and Alec set out to find the mysterious woman who gave birth to her. But will Max find what she's looking for?
1. Name

**BETWEEN THE LINES**

**A/N: **This is a spin-off from _The XYZ Affair_.

**Summary:** Max's search for the cure to the virus takes an unexpected detour and Alec goes along for the ride.

* * *

**1: NAME **

When Logan called to say that he had big news, Max almost expected to hear that he and Asha had eloped over the weekend. What was she supposed to think after he canceled Friday dinner and hadn't called her all week? Not to mention every time she called him, he would say he was busy with a case and would call her back later.

Somehow "later" had turned into almost two weeks after the first time he said it. She was on her last run of the day when her pager went off. Alec was with her and knew he had to hand over the cell phone. He rolled his eyes as Max agreed to meet Logan at the penthouse after work but was a little relieved he didn't have to go too and watch them stare longingly at each other like two kicked puppies, then be shot at by the criminal dunderhead of the week.

When she opened the door to Logan's apartment, she had every intention of letting him know that she wasn't his doormat. He was sitting in his wheelchair with his back to her as he typed away at his computer. She opened her mouth, ready to give him a piece of her mind when he turned to face her with a huge smile on his face. Her agitation crumbled and fell away, and the scowl on her face was replaced by a look of confusion. The look deepened when Logan sprung the news on her – he had tracked down a Manticore doctor working as a vet in Tacoma.

Max wasn't sure how to react and stood there simply staring as Logan explained that he had been busy hunting him down and making sure that he was legit. They had so many false chances, he didn't want to mention anything until he knew that this wasn't just another dead end. She nodded as she tried to wrap her head around what he was saying.

His name was Glenn Sharpe and he ran an animal hospital. But before the Pulse, he was Dr. Samuel Locke working at a VA hospital in Gillette, Wyoming. When the facility closed in 2009, he was reassigned to Seattle and in the process of moving there, the Pulse hit and Samuel Locke was one of the many people to vanish into the chaos. From Logan's research, Sharpe had been involved with the genetics division and he could possibly be their key to finding the cure to the virus…

That was all Max needed to hear and she was on her bike to Tacoma. She would call Alec or Cindy when she got there to tell Normal that her uncle's cat died or something, but at the moment all Max could think about was how close she was to the cure and touching Logan again. She knew that she shouldn't get her hopes up, that didn't stop her from thinking about riding her bike with Logan and just the feel of his hand on hers.

As Max stealthily waited for Dr. Sharpe to close up for the evening, she thought of all the little things that would be different when she and Logan could touch again – holding hands, making dinner together, sharing a glass of wine…

The click of a key in a lock snapped Max's mind back to where she was. She was standing in the back alley of an animal hospital watching a middle-aged man in a white lab coat and wire-rim glasses close up for the night. No he was more than that. He was one of those monsters playing god with animals on a level his patients probably couldn't dream of.

Before she knew it, it was time to make her move. He was still facing the door when she slipped out of the shadows.

"Glenn Sharpe? Or I should say Samuel Locke?" Max said in a cool and even tone.

For an instant he was frozen in place with his hand still on the doorknob, then he turned to her with a stern face. It wasn't the panicked, terror-stricken appearance Max had been expecting. Maybe it was because this guy had been waiting for his past to catch up with him at some point for so long that the actual moment hadn't caught him unprepared.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he replied calmly.

"Wow, you kept Manticore off your tail for ten years with lame ass comebacks like that?" Max rolled her eyes.

The doctor didn't reply and studied her for a moment. He seemed to be looking at something familiar, though to Max's knowledge they had never met. Perhaps he had known Sam or seen her picture when Lydecker caught wind of her in Seattle because she couldn't recall him from any of her memories at Manticore.

"X5-453, right? I heard they locked the barracks and burned the place to the ground when Eyes Only did the broadcast," he said thoughtfully, then looked her up and down. "Guess I did a good job after all. What do you want with me?"

Max sneered. "Actually, it's 452… And I have a proposition for you—would you quit looking at me like that before I beat your ass?"

"Right… One of the escapees," he said and stopped examining her from head to toe, his eyes became fixated on her face. "What would you want with a Manticore doctor? Seizures still bad? Don't blame me, not my specialty. No, Hendricks was in charge of that—"

"I'm not here to talk about my DNA exactly… Manticore put some freaky genetically targeted virus in me to get rid of a friend of mine and I was wondering if you could help us find a cure?" Max asked bluntly.

He stood there with a thoughtful look on his face and answered, "Sorry can't help you. That sort of thing was just drunk bar talk when I was there."

"Look, I went to a lot of trouble to track you down—" Max began but he cut her off.

"Begging? I see the real world has taken its toll on you. Lydecker would never stand for that shit—" he informed her and suddenly found himself pressed into the wall of the animal hospital with Max's forearm against his neck.

A sneer was etched into her face as she stared at the terrified older man she held captive. Max wasn't sure where that flurry of rage coursing through her had come from. Was it the mention of Lydecker and her messed up childhood? Or maybe it was the notion that this guy's bad attitude was the one thing standing between her, Logan, and the cure?

"How about you shut the hell up before you really take one for old Manticore screwing me over?" Max shot back, then loosened the force on him so he could breathe easily again.

Dr. Sharpe let out a choked cough. "God, you're just like your surrogate. There goes my thesis on personality being genetic rather than acquired."

Of all the things Max would have thought he'd say, that was not on the list. It was the last thing she had expected to hear come out of his mouth. Out of anyone's mouth. The world seemed to stop for a moment as she tried to process what he said.

"You remember my mother?" asked Max in a bewildered tone.

"Oh, yeah. She had a nasty left hook," he went on as he made a half-assed attempt to break her hold on him. "Look, pathogens? Not my specialty. And it's been a while since I spliced DNA, and let me tell you, I don't think it's like riding a bike."

"We can pay you," Max tried again after focusing on why she had him in her grasp.

He sighed. "You're barking up the wrong tree. I couldn't help even if I wanted to. Something tells me a vet's lab isn't going to cut it."

She bit her bottom lip in frustration. The man had a point. It looked like she was going to have to cut her losses. Again. "Fine… Just tell me one thing then. What was the name of my mother?"

"Why would you want the name of your surrogate? You do know she's not a DNA donor—"

"Look, do you want me out of your life now or after I introduce you to your colon?" she shot back.

Sharpe swallowed in fear that she probably would make good on her threat. "I give you the name, and you never show your face around here again?"

"It's Tacoma, I doubt I'll be shopping for vacation homes here."

He studied her again. "I don't remember splicing snark into your coding… Damn, there goes seven years of my life that I'll never get back."

"Just give me the name," said Max in an exasperated tone.

"Martina Emilia Ledesma," he said impatiently.

"Know anything else?" Max asked, brushing aside the rush that came with hearing the name of her mother for the first time.

He shook his head. "It's not like we sat around sipping coffee together, swapping life stories."

"Yet she still found the time to clock you, I'm shocked," Max said in a dry tone, stepping back from him.

"Look, I've told you everything I know…" Dr. Sharpe responded. Then he thought for a moment. "Are we done?"

"How do I know you're telling the truth?"

"You got any better sources?"

Max rolled her eyes. "Get out of my sight before I change my mind about introducing your face to your colon."

With no more than a quick nod, the older man scurried off into the night, his white coat trailing behind him. Max simply stood there, watching another chance to be with Logan fade away. She should have known it was too good to be true. What was she going to tell him? Sorry Logan, the guy wasn't down for it and we're going to have to face the idea that we may never be able to touch again?

As she quietly padded the trek back to her motorcycle, she thought about the one thing she may have gained from this attempt at finding the cure… The name of her mother. After all these years, she finally had a name, not that it did her current situation any good.

Still, a name was better than nothing.

Martina Emilia Ledesma.

It was something Max could hold on to. Maybe someday she would find the face to match the name.


	2. Face

**2: FACE**

"Do you think you can find her, Logan?" Max asked expectantly as she leaned in the doorframe to his office, maintaining a safe distance from where he was sitting at his desk.

"Well, I can't make any promises but I'll do my best," Logan told her and wheeled closer to her. She took a step back when she thought he was too close, but he continued speaking. "We're working under the assumption that he gave you her real name. Even then it won't be easy. She could have changed it since then or left country… But knowing that Manticore likes to clean up their messes pretty neatly—"

"I get it Logan. I know not to get my hopes up over what is probably a lost cause. But I still have to try," she said, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Sounds like you've been hanging around me too much," Logan smiled. He was tempted to reach out and let her know that it was okay to hope for the impossible. But he couldn't.

The flash of longing in his eyes hit Max like a bucket of ice water and she recoiled further away from him.

"I told the guys I'd meet them at Crash like an hour ago," she told him. "But I'll catch you later?"

Logan nodded. "Right. I've got some Eyes Only stuff to do, and I'll see what I can find for you on the informant net."

"Thanks," Max said with a warm smile and taking another step backwards before turning on her heel to leave. "I'm not expecting any miracles though."

* * *

"Hey boo, what's on ya mind?" asked Original Cindy as they were sitting in Crash at their usual table, working on their second pitcher of beer.

"Why do you ask?" Max questioned her, taking a sip from her mug.

"Because you've got your 'I've got the weight of the world on my slender shoulders' face on again," Alec answered as Cindy shot him a dirty look. He shrugged it off.

Max stared at her beer, firmly holding the mug in her hand. "I think I found the name of my mother and Logan's helping to see if he can track her down."

"Damn girl, that's good news for once! What's the long face for?" asked her friend.

"It's no big. Just a name," was her detached reply.

Alec looked confused. "You have a mother?"

"Yes Alec, I have a mother," Max replied dryly. "The person who gave birth to me… Or did you miss Human Reproduction 101?"

He rolled his eyes. "I slept through it, but I prefer practical application to theory anyway. So you're looking for your surrogate? Why?"

"Because unlike you, family means something to me," Max said.

"And I'm sure family meant a lot to her too… I mean, why else play Mary Immaculate for a paycheck?" Alec shot back casually, standing up and picking up his drink. Though he was trying to play it off, it was obvious that this was a sore topic for him from the way he gripped his glass so tightly. "What makes you think she'd want anything to do with you? You don't even have the same DNA."

"Shared DNA doesn't make people a family," Max pointed out.

"Whatever," Alec sighed. As he was walking back to the bar, he muttered under his breath, "Stupid 09ers and their phony sentimentality."

* * *

It was six days, nineteen hours and twenty-three minutes later when Logan called Max to say that he had found something about her mother. She tossed the clipboard at Alec and left him with all the packages as she pedaled off to the penthouse. She hadn't expected to hear something so soon, if ever, and she couldn't wait. Knowing her luck, Martina Emilia Ledesma was probably a butch woman in prison or a prostitute in Albuquerque, or both.

"She was last heard from in San Francisco two months ago," Logan told her as they stood in his office. "Or at least someone using that identity to take a Tomas Ledesma off life support was. Records list her as his daughter. Born in March 17, 1980 to Tomas and Mercedes Ledesma in Los Angeles, the family moved around a lot her whole life. She's been off the radar since 1998 when she was picked up for breaking and entering, of course anything from before would not be on her record due to her being a minor at the time. SFPD still had her mugshot on file…"

He fingered a large manila envelope on his desk that Max had overlooked. He picked it up and held it out to her, keeping his reaction to himself until he saw hers. Max stared in disbelief at the envelope for a moment, unsure what to think or feel. She carefully took it from him, making sure her hand didn't get too close to his. The envelope felt like it weighed more than it actually did. Maybe that was because it was holding the weight of a lifetime of hopes and dreams about a nameless, faceless mother. It had started with the name of a girl not so much unlike herself, desperate and just looking to survive in a cold, cruel world however she could. Now the name would be matched to a face of a girl who rented out her uterus for some insane government experiment to create the perfect soldier.

Max drew in a deep breath and slipped her fingers into the envelope, pulling out the color photo of teenaged Hispanic girl who stood at five foot six with short brown hair and big brown eyes. The look on her face said she wasn't the type of girl people messed with, and if they did, they were in for some serious trouble. Her face was rounder than Max's and her complexion was a little fairer, but aside from that she looked the way Max would have imagined her mother would look like. She was pretty in that bad girl with a secret love of happy endings kind of way.

She studied the picture for a minute, trying to glean what she could from that moment frozen in history. Her brow furrowed in concentration.

"She went into Central California Women's Facility in '98 but there's no release date," Logan went on, attentively watching Max absorbing the photo into her eidetic memory. "I'm not sure how she got recruited by Manticore. That's a question only she can answer."

"Something tells me she didn't answer some ad in the paper going 'Chimera embryo seeks surrogate…,'" said Max, finally looking up at him. "Do you think she's still in San Francisco?"

Logan didn't break his gaze from her as he leaned on the edge of his desk, using his hands to support himself. "Don't know. Tomas Ledesma was involved in a lot of petty crimes and had just been let out on probation for drug trafficking when he passed away, so there wasn't really a funeral. And Mercedes Ledesma died back in 1994. She probably left town to get anyone off her tail."

"I'm going to find out. What's the name of this hospital she was at? Maybe they can tell me something, give me a clue," Max said in a determined voice.

His face fell. She was jumping in head first without thinking again. "Max—"

"I need to see if she's still there. This is the closest I've ever come, the closest I'll probably ever get to finding her. Either you tell me, or I wander around with this picture for the next few weeks," Max declared indignantly, waving the picture in the air as she spoke. "Your call."

He should have seen this coming. Letting out a defeated sigh, he told her that the Ledesmas had been at San Francisco General Hospital. It wasn't much but it was still more than she ever imagined she would know about the woman who gave birth to her. The entire scenario felt unreal. She had been dreaming of finding her mother since the day she found out what one was, and that she must have had one too. She knew better than to expect a woman who would bake her cookies and ask her 'You're wearing that?' as she walked out the door, but it was the chance to feel a bit more human by knowing that she came out of a person and not a machine.

Max wasn't sure what she was looking for in San Francisco. She wasn't sure about a lot of things except that she wasn't going to waste an opportunity like the one that had come her way.

It was downright unbelievable.

"What're you doing here?" exclaimed Max when Alec stepped onto the bus with a blue duffel bag slung over his shoulder. She almost jumped out of her seat, ready to throttle him by instinct. She didn't though.

Alec stopped dead in his tracks to let out a frustrated sigh and shake his head. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Hey buddy, you're holding up the line," growled a hefty middle-aged man right behind him. He looked in the direction Alec was staring, and his expression went from furious to friendly as he brushed back his greasy hair and flashed an equally greasy smile. "Hello there, Miss. Is this young man bothering you?"

Max made a disgusted face and didn't reply to him. Alec rolled his eyes and kept walking into the bus; the man in the sweat-stained white T-shirt kept his eyes on Max. When Alec was close enough to Max, she realized she was either going to have to sit next to him or Mr. I Probably Haven't Had a Shower This Week. She grabbed Alec and pulled him into the seat beside hers before he knew what happened, and held him firmly in place as he grinned smugly at the disappointed man making his way down the aisle.

"I hope you realize that this means we're sitting together the whole ride. All twenty hours and sixteen minutes," Alec pointed out. Then he looked over to the greasy man giving him a dirty look, and said in a louder voice, "Well, it beats a dark closet we were in last time. What is with you and getting me into closed, confined spaces?"

"What're you doing here, Alec?" Max demanded, ignoring his chattering.

"Got some business deal, that's all you need to know," Alec said. "Of course, you weren't supposed to know at all."

"Look, once we're out of Seattle, you're someone else's problem since you're no longer in my jurisdiction," Max replied, leaning back into her seat.

"So what are you going to do in San Francisco? Off to find the cure again?" he questioned, trying not to sound too interested as the bus shut its doors and the engine hissed as the vehicle pulled out of the terminal.

"Not that it's any of your business, but I heard that my mother was down there a few weeks ago and I wanted to check it out."

Her companion let out a soft chuckle. "Still chasing lost causes? Why do you keep doing this to yourself? She wants nothing to do with you. Sometimes I wonder if you're a masochist and get off on all of this."

Max punched him in the shoulder. "Shut up before I decide to rearrange your face."

Alec just smiled and pointed at his face. "Yeah right, you wouldn't dare. It's the only part of me you seem to like besides my ass. Yeah buddy, I know you can hear me over there! And I'd like you to know she gave me a lap dance once! Albeit a really bad one…"

The greasy man scowled and pretended to read his newspaper. Max smacked Alec hard across the head.

"If we make it there without me killing you, you owe me dinner," Max informed him.

Alec kept grinning. "How can I say no to a face like yours?"

"This is going to be a long ride."

"Funny that's what all girls say to me when I have to get them dinner. Ow!" He clutched his shoulder and pouted.

"God, will you two keep your foreplay to yourselves!" someone behind them yelled.

"Someone kill me now," Alec said, covering his face with his hand.

"That can be arranged," Max snickered, crossing her arms and scowling.


	3. Feet

**3: FEET**

"Oww! What the hell?" Alec growled at the shooting pain emanating from his left foot. He had fallen asleep after eating an economy sized bag of pork rinds and drinking a bottle of water. Looking at Max through drowsy eyes, he wondered if she was finally making good on her threat to kill him in his sleep if he drooled on her.

Max pushed her way into the aisle and was staring daggers at him. "Nice to see you're up, Sleeping Beauty."

Suddenly, Alec became aware of two things. "We're not moving? And where is everybody?"

"Wow, nothing gets by you," Max replied dryly.

"So you did knock me unconscious!" Alec accused her, quickly standing up. "Why didn't you tell me we were in San Francisco?"

"Because we're not. We're at a truck stop in Oregon," she told him as if it was more than obvious, then she began walking to the front exit of the bus. "Or can't you tell the difference with your astute observation skills?"

Through the bus windows, Alec surveyed that they were in a large asphalt parking lot, surrounded by spring tree foliage with a gas station and rundown diner a few paces east of the bus exit. His stomach grumbled at him to follow her to the chance at a hot and greasy meal. His legs felt stiff from sitting down so long as well.

"So whatchya gettin'?" asked Alec when he entered the eatery and took his place behind Max in line to order food.

She was scrupulously scanning the menu board behind the counter and ignored his question. Max could have kicked herself for waking him up. If he hadn't shifted his big stupid feet while she was trying to get by him, she would have gotten a quiet meal alone. When it was her turn in line, she recited her order in one breath, "Mushroom bacon double cheeseburger, house fries, onion rings, Caesar salad, and a vanilla milkshake."

The heavy-set teenaged girl at the register threw Max a dirty look as she placed the order. Max could have cared less and handed the girl her cash as Alec chuckled to himself. He was up next. The girl blushed and started grinning like a love-struck, hormonal teenager who just had the captain of the football team look her way. Max almost thought she'd lose her appetite.

"I'll have what she's having," Alec said with a Cheshire Cat grin while he nodded towards Max and opened his wallet to pay the girl. "Why don't you grab us a table and I'll bring the food?"

The cashier shot Max another dirty look and Max responded by sticking her tongue out at her. "Sure, whatever."

"You know what? Change my shake to an orange soda," Alec said. Knowing the cashier was still watching him attentively, he checked out Max as she was walking away to snag a table in the back. "She's hot as hell, but I'm starting to think the attraction is one-sided."

The girl slammed the register shut and practically threw his change at him. He almost felt bad, but someone had to pay for waking him up and he wasn't about to take it out on Max, because he still had some business to take care of before he died.

Max took some napkins from the dispenser and started wiping off the cracked table and wobbled a bit. It was a table for four, but she wasn't sure if it was enough space for everything they'd ordered.

The trip was hardly turning out the way she had expected. It seemed like it was taking forever to reach her destination. And of course, Alec had to be along for the ride. All Max could think about was what she would do on the off-chance that she did find her mother. Was she supposed to call her 'Martina'? Or go, 'Hi Mom, I'm the science experiment you were forced to give up? How was the mental institution?' Would Max even have the chance to say anything at all to her?

Not for the first time, and hardly the last time for this quest, Max wondered what exactly she was looking to find. Could someone really be disappointed if she didn't know what to expect? Sure there were a million questions Max wanted the answers about what happened all those years ago, but when had the lack of answers impeded her life? A part of wouldn't have minded turning up nothing and returning to her strange little life of beers at Crash, dinners with Logan, and some light cat burglary on the side.

"Mind if I sit down?"

Max turned around to see who was lurking around her. It was greasy bus guy again, his short-sleeved shirt sporting sweat stains under the arms. She scowled. "Seat's taken."

"Oh come on, you don't expect me to sit on the floor," he replied with a Vaseline-like grin, clutching his tray of French fries, a plain hamburger and diet Coke.

"Not my problem," Max told him plainly.

He sneered. "What? Don't want to make your boyfriend jealous of you chatting up a successful entrepreneur?"

Max almost scowled at the fact that someone thought Alec was her boyfriend, but she couldn't stop laughing. This guy really thought Alec would be jealous of him? He took offense at her laughter and huffed off as Alec brought their meals over.

"What's got the Hamburglar bent out of shape?" Alec asked, popping a fry into his mouth, then sliding the overloaded tray over to Max.

She glared at him then stole an onion ring off his tray. He shrugged it off.

"He's thinks we're dating and is afraid you'll get jealous of seeing me with him."

Alec had begun eating his burger and started choking when Max said that. It was a good half a minute before he was breathing normally again, so Max didn't have to perform the Heimlich maneuver on him. She didn't even move from her seat and just kept eating, throwing the occasional glance to make sure he hadn't turned blue.

"You're really trying to kill me," Alec wheezed, a faux hurt look flashed across his face.

"Please, if I wanted you dead I would have lured you into the woods and finished the job," Max said casually, taking a sip from her milkshake.

"And how would you get me to follow you into the woods?" he asked curiously.

Max shot him an incredulous look. As if he needed to ask? "The male mind is a deviously simple contraption. It's either work work work or sex sex sex."

Alec sighed and went back to eating. She was probably right, he would fall for some lame line about how lonely she was and how she'd had so much pent up sexual energy from not being with Logan—then wham, she'd knock him off his feet and leave him for dead. But that wasn't Max's style.

In the short time he knew her, he had come to realize that she was the one who had problems letting go of people. She preferred to get ditched than ditch someone. She had only let go of Zack because he had become a time bomb. Aside from that instance, from what Alec overheard, it had been Darren who broke things off, Eric who ran in the other direction, Kendra who moved out… It explained why Max stayed in Seattle for too long and perhaps why she hadn't thrown Alec out of her life completely. She was too sentimental.

"Know where you're staying in Frisco?" he questioned when they were back on the bus.

"Not sure yet. Wherever I guess," she replied.

"Well, you've got my number if you need anything," Alec said as he tried to settle back into his seat for a nap.

Max pulled out a copy of _American Gods_ by some guy named Neil Gaiman, which looked far more interesting than the copies of _Oliver Twist_ and _Great Expectations_ she had finished reading during the first half of their trip that looked like they had come from Logan.

"I doubt I'll need to find you. You have a habit of popping in at the worst possible moment," Max said to him when he shut his eyes and yawned.

"Someone has to keep you on your feet," Alec said before drifting off to sleep once more.

Max studied him, amused how cat-like he was in personality. He enjoyed sleeping and prowling around and just being a cocky bastard. He looked so peaceful there, she almost expected to hear him purring. She yawned and thought how nice it would be to doze off for just a moment. It was another six hours to the next rest stop anyway.

Max yawned again, her own feline DNA calling out for a catnap. Maybe some rest would make the trip a little shorter.

An hour later, Alec felt something weighing down his shoulder. Carefully, he opened his eyes without moving another muscle to see that it was Max's head nestled against him. She was sound asleep and hardly seemed like the girl who loved to smack him upside the head and threaten other forms of bodily harm. She just seemed like a girl he wouldn't mind waking up to.

A small smile tugged at the corners of Alec's mouth and he shut his eyes. He could have woken her up, but then there would be screaming and hitting and he probably wouldn't make it to San Francisco, let alone back to Seattle with all parts in tact. Besides, Max looked as cozy as a kitten and she smelled really nice. He went back to sleep knowing she would wake up and recoil from him, then pretend that it never happened, that she had been so relaxed next to him from head to toe.


	4. Voice

**4: VOICE**

"Hey Logan, it's Max," she said, hardly hiding the disappointment of talking to the answering machine. "Just letting you know that I got to San Francisco in one piece, and Alec's with me. Don't ask. Anyway, you know where to call… Bye."

Max hadn't found a proper signal to make a call during the entire trip; the bus drove in and out of dead zones like they were potholes on the road to civilization. To say she had been waiting to hear Logan's voice would be an understatement, and she had been sorely disappointed to know he wasn't there to answer her call. Asha was probably with him, going on about righting the wrongs of the world in her shrill voice so he couldn't hear the phone ringing. She would try again later.

Her traveling companion was leaning against the bus terminal fence, casually waiting for her to finish talking on the cell phone she had finally gotten instead of hijacking his. Alec had seemed to be intently scouring the contents of his own cell phone screen when she walked towards him, but before she could see what he was up to, he shoved the device into his pocket.

"Voicemail, huh?" Alec commented, revealing that he had been using his transgenic hearing to eavesdrop on her.

"Logan's probably busy. He doesn't sit by the phone 24/7 waiting for me to call," Max huffed defensively.

"Of course not, he's busy rescuing kittens from trees and puppies from Cruella De Vil," Alec retorted, standing up straight.

"Look, this is where we go our separate ways, got it? See you back in Seattle," Max told him, then turned on her heel to walk away.

"We have the same return date. I checked your ticket while you were sleeping. We should sit together again," Alec informed her, mischief thick in his voice. "Since it was so comfy last time."

Max cringed and gritted her teeth. "I'd rather ride back with White."

She didn't turn back as she kept walking away from him. The urge to kick herself for falling asleep on his shoulder resurged. The bastard knew it the whole time and he didn't wake her, though he claimed that he didn't notice. He was from Manticore, he could tell where everyone on the bus was while asleep and recount their every motion during the ride. He had to be aware that her head was there. Knowing his perverted mind, he probably enjoyed every minute of it.

Max kicked an empty soda bottle then shifted the weight of her duffel bag on her shoulder. It was her own fault. She had let her guard down. It was a moment of weakness. Madness even. She wouldn't let it happen again. Her head needed to be in the game for this mission.

She looked up from her feet to see the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance across the park. Zack had once said that Jondy had an apartment near there, before Lydecker was onto them. Jondy was probably long gone by now, keeping on the move in enemy territory like she'd been taught. A pang of loss echoed to Max's core. Years hadn't diminished the empty hole in her heart caused by losing her siblings had left. If nothing else, the hole had only gotten worse with the loss of Tinga, Ben, Brin, and Zack…

Perhaps someday, by another freaky coincidence, she would be reunited with Jondy. The universe had given her this chance to find her mother, what made it so impossible to that she'd one day find her sister? Until then life went on, traffic would flow, the tide would crash, and Max would get thrown out of cheap hotel after cheap hotel.

The first place she found to stay at was an old apartment complex in Chinatown, but the old Asian man behind the counter took one look at her and pulled out his broom and chased her out, screaming that he didn't want "her kind" messing up his business.

At the next hotel a few blocks over, the woman at the front desk firmly told her that there weren't anymore vacancies in spite of what the glowing neon sign said in the window. Max had tried to argue with her, but the woman threatened to call the police and that was the cue to exit.

Soon, Max had been pushed out of places that even charged by the hour. She had been stuck on a bus for almost a day without a proper shower, but she didn't see how she looked any worse than the usual patrons of drug dealers, prostitutes and cheating spouses.

It was at the seventh hotel that she lost patience with the whole situation. She had practically run out of affordable places to stay and there was no way she could foot the bill for a place like the Four Seasons. Was there some sort of criminal convention going on that she couldn't find a decent room to crash in?

The middle-aged guy at the counter looked like he belonged in a pre-Pulse grunge band with his long unwashed hair, yellowing wife-beater and jeans with no knees and several other holes. He was flipping through a newspaper when Max walked through the door, and didn't even bother looking up to see her. "No more rooms left."

"The sign out front said there were rooms available," Max argued, her voice rough against his dismissive attitude. She dropped her bag on the floor, ready to stand her ground.

"Rooms are available, just not for you girls. Len made it pretty clear that he would mess up anyone who helped you bitches broker on the side," he said indignantly, still not looking at her as he turned another page.

Max glared at him, unmoving from her spot in front of the counter. "I don't know any Len. Just give me a room."

"Can't do that. Try the Lazy Eye Lodge down the street. That place will take any kind of business."

"The place with the biohazard tape and warning from the Health Commission?"

He shrugged. "Not my problem."

Max gritted her teeth in frustration then placed both of her hands on the desk to keep from punching him. "Listen up, if you think I'm some low-end call girl—"

"Oh come on Max, don't sell yourself short," came a voice from behind her. "If I didn't know you, I'd think you were pretty high-end. Probably out of my price range…"

She would know that voice anywhere because no one else's made her bristle with that much annoyance. Turning on her heel, she spun to face Alec, freshly groomed and ready for a night out on the town.

"She's cool Jonah," Alec told the other man, who was still leafing through his paper.

"Not taking any chances. Scram!"

Alec sighed. He knew he was going to regret this. "Max, you can crash in my room. Apparently, there's some hooker strike going down and a bunch of the don's girlfriends bailed on his place. I'm guessing people've been mistaking you for one of his girls and don't want the trouble."

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me," Max groaned. She wasn't sure what part of this scenario she was groaning at – rooming with Alec or someone thinking she was a prostitute.

"Yeah, I had that same reaction," Alec replied. "Yo Jonah, toss me an extra key to my room."

Jonah reached under the counter to pull out another key, then without breaking his gaze threw it over to where Alec was standing. Alec caught it with one hand and Jonah finally looked up from his paper to give Max the once-over. "It's your funeral. Personally, I woulda held out for a blond with a bigger rack."

Max wanted to reach across the counter and punch him in the face for that comment. She couldn't though. She needed a place to stay for now. Maybe when she was leaving she'd rough him up a bit. "I'm sure you're holding out for a bar of soap too."

Before Jonah could respond, Alec grabbed Max's duffel bag and ushered her up the stairs before they both ended up squatting in an abandoned building for the rest of the trip.

"Chill out," Alec said as they climbed the steps. "Not only is the Lazy Eye a biohazard, they were cleaning up five chalk body outlines when I got here. I doubt you'd want to be somewhere with that many cops sniffing around."

He had a point, so she didn't reply to his comment. When he opened the door to the room, Max immediately surveyed the place. The green striped wallpaper was peeling and the windows looked like they hadn't been washed in years, but there was a small private bathroom and no visible traces of vermin.

"There's only one bed," Max said in a shock of realization as she walked further into the room.

"Don't worry, I have no problem sharing. You're not exactly the kind of girl a guy kicks out of bed," Alec said with a wicked smirk. When he saw the murderous look on her face, he stopped smiling. "The couch folds out Miss I Only Need Two Hours of Sleep. But if you change your mind, know that I'm not into BDSM."

Max felt a flood of relief wash over her, then she glared at his insinuation. "I'd rather sleep on a bed of nails."

"Suit yourself. A couple of things before I go – the guy on the floor above us has a meth lab, so if you hear any explosions it's just him. If you hear bloodcurdling screams from this wall," he tapped the wall that the couch was braced against, "the girl next door watches snuff films. Oh, and I used up all the hot water. Later."

He tossed the room key to her.

Max caught them casually with one hand. "Somehow I think I'll manage."

"It's not you I'm worried about," Alec said, shutting the door behind him as he left.

When he was gone, she dialed Original Cindy to see how things were going on back on the home front. It was the usual Normal bitching and bipping about getting signatures, Sketchy getting toasted in the storage room, and the girl O.C. was looking to kick it with was whining about Alec being gone. In the middle of Cindy speculating on his possible locations, Max told her that he was in San Francisco with her. Her friend didn't hide her shock that Alec had survived the entire bus ride unharmed.

Max especially didn't like the tone O.C. took when she heard that not only was Alec with her but that they were sharing a room together. Cindy claimed she wasn't insinuating anything Max knew better. Before she could straighten the whole thing up once and for all, the beep of the call waiting interrupted her. It was Logan. Original Cindy took that as her cue to hang up and told her that they would finish this conversation later.

"Hey stranger," Max greeted him.

"How's the City by the Bay?" he replied, a small laugh in his voice.

She sighed. "Not bad. It's not raining. And there's a hooker strike going on."

"Sounds like you're having fun. How's the search for Martina?"

"Nothing yet. What about your end?"

"I got some more dirt from an informant out there. That was why I missed your call earlier. Martina was spotted around Midtown Terrace just two days ago. Also, my informant thinks that she and her father hadn't been in contact for several years, though he was trying to find her," Logan went on.

"Well now I know I won't be breaking into the hospital in vain," she said.

"At least you have Alec to watch your back," Logan commented, a failed attempt at being reassuring.

Max scoffed at the notion. "I don't need Alec. Besides he's off doing his own thing."

"It's nice to hear your voice," Logan told her softly. "Listen, I've got to meet with Matt Sung, he's got some info on a corrupt judge in the Moretti crime family—"

"Say no more. I got it. Blah blah woof woof," Max cut him off before he could continue.

She heard him sigh on the other end of the line. "Be careful."

"I'm a genetically empowered super soldier trained to kill in several silent but deadly ways at the tender age of seven. I know a few loud ways too. Somehow I think I'm not the one who has to be careful."

* * *

A/N: Sorry about being slow with the updates. I hope to have the next chapter up soon. It's going to be more Max and Alec bonding, then they're hot on the trail again. Thanks for all the reviews!


	5. Fingers

**5: FINGERS**

Breaking into the hospital that night had been so easy, Max was almost disappointed.

All she had to do was slip into a nurse's uniform during the red eye shift and no one even noticed her wandering through the halls. Then when the aged nurse behind the reception spotted Max and let her know that she had to take over, it took all the sport out of posing as someone else.

It had taken Max a few moments to navigate the archaic file systems that seemed to be from the ancient days of MS-DOS. Then she had to wade through seventeen 'Tomas Ledesmas' before she came across the one she was looking for. He seemed to be the right age and was the second one to die at that particular hospital that year.

A few keystrokes gave Max an address. 87 Ellewood Road. Maybe there would be something left that she could use to find Martina. She would use the laptop Alec was keeping hidden at the bottom of his duffel bag to find the directions.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" Alec demanded in the dark as she tried to sneak back into their hotel room. With her night vision, she could see that he was lying on the bed and his hair seemed tussled like he had been sleeping. He had probably only woken up just to annoy her.

She decided to flip on the lights since he was up anyway. Her eyes stung for a bit as they tried to adjust, but the groan from Alec made it all worth it.

"It's 4:21am or 0421 hours," Max informed him after glancing down at her watch.

"Find what you were looking for?"

"What do you care?"

"I take that as a maybe. Look, this whole "strike" business has left me with a lot more free time, so if you need any help I'll be around… being bored. And you know what happens when I get bored," Alec chattered on as Max went into the bathroom to change out of the nurse's scrubs she'd stolen. "You don't have to be so modest! It's nothing I probably haven't seen before!"

"Get bent!" she bellowed through the locked door.

"You know, I was serious. Not about the changing part but the helping you out part," he called back. The door to the bathroom swung open and Max was donning a light blue tank top and gray sweats.

"I thought you said this whole mission was all phony sentimentality," she shot back as she leaned in the doorway.

"It is. But every now and again I'm a sucker for it. That and I watched 'Finding Nemo' while you were out."

Max grinned at the thought of Alec hanging out in a seedy hotel room at night watching a Pixar movie.

"So if I don't let you come along there will be a spree of pet shop break-ins where you liberate all the aquarium fish into the bay?"

"Don't forget the turtles," he added, keeping his gaze on her as she sat down at the edge of the bed.

Not for the first time since they met, Alec was amazed how she could look so tempting in something so mundane. The idea of throwing caution into the wind and just seeing how she would react to him grabbing and kissing her was not lost on him. He was always curious to see how far they'd get before she came to her senses and tried to kill him. It might almost have been worth it to find out…

Max noticed that his gaze was lingering and was looking at him strangely. He needed a cover and fast, so he reached out and ran his fingers across the back of her neck where the dull lines of her returning barcode were.

"You need a touch up," Alec said as he felt her pulse quicken slightly under his touch. "Want to do it here or when we get back home?"

"It can wait," Max said, pushing away his hand. "I got an address for her deceased father that I want to check out tomorrow. You in?"

"Of course."

She got off the bed and moved over to her bag. After some tumbling, she pulled out the envelope containing her mother's picture. It was a little strange to share something so private with Alec, but she had no choice if he would be helping her. She went back over to the bed and handed the picture to him.

"Martina Emilia Ledesma," Max said. "That's who we're looking for. Just age the picture twenty years."

If she had been expecting him to make some snide remark, she was in for a disappointment. Alec took every aspect of the picture into his eidetic memory, then handed it back to her. "Cute. Now it makes me wonder if my surrogate was hot too. Maybe a down on her luck model?"

"You're disgusting, you know that?" Max cringed.

Alec shrugged. Then he felt her fingers tracing the lines of his barcode. The touch was surprisingly light and almost gentle.

"We both need a touch up when we get back," she said, retracting her hand quickly.

But he was quicker. He grabbed her arm to stop her from getting off the bed.

"The fold out couch has a couple of loose springs, so I'll let you have half the bed if you want," he told her, still holding onto her arm. "Or you can have me patch you up in the morning. Your call."

"And you'll keep your pervy hands to yourself?" Max demanded, pulling out of his grip.

"Only if you keep your sexually repressed ones away from me," he replied coldly.

He had hit a nerve with that line. And they both knew it.

"I'd rather sleep on the couch than run the risk of letting you stay that close to me. I could catch something," Max shot back.

"Oh come on," Alec said, regretting that he'd played right into her little game of pushing him away. He wouldn't let her get away that easily and make him into the bad guy on this trip. His arm snaked around her waist and he pulled her back onto the bed.

Evidently, he had put more force into it than necessary because she landed on him with a thud and was on top of him with their faces barely inches apart. Her breath became caught in her throat as they remained frozen in place, trying to figure out how to get out of this compromising position. It wasn't like they hadn't been physically close before, they'd been locked in a closet for hours once. What made this time so different? Right, there was a bed involved.

Alec didn't shift at all, fearing that any false move would be his last. He cursed his stupidity. He needed her to get away from him before she could know how turned on he was getting by this whole thing. Fortunately, she was the one to roll off of him then smacked him across the head for that little stunt.

"Really, I'd rather take my chances with the couch," Max told him as she made her way over to the couch.

Alec nodded. "Yeah, that's probably a good idea."

The pull out bed squeaked as she tried to set it up. Any slight movement caused it to hiss and creek, but she could live with it. Turning off the light and finally lying down, she found herself being stabbed in the right side and there was a large sink in the middle of the mattress. Every turn and twist was announced to her chagrin. She had a good mind to throw him out of the bed and claim it for herself, but she could suffer through two hours of restless sleep where she was.

Max knew he could hear her shifting to get comfortable, but it was less about the mattress than it was about the moment that she was on top of Alec and let her guard slip. She wanted him. If she was truly honest with herself, it wasn't the first time. After he'd started working at Jam Pony, he had become less of a nuisance to her. Then when she had told him about Ben and he understood and just held her, she had wanted him then too.

Of course, none of this meant Max was actually attracted to the guy. She wasn't into Alec. She just missed Logan and was feeling vulnerable from the prospect of finding her mother. That was all. Alec wasn't the kind of guy she'd ever fall for with his scam-running, two-timing, morally bankrupt and downright dubious habits. He didn't care about anyone but himself.

Deciding to push those thoughts away, her mind circled around her mother. There were so many questions she had for Martina. What was her childhood like? What got her tangled up in Manticore? How did she get away and what had she been doing since? Was she a coffee or tea person?

The morning had come quickly once Max dozed off. She was up and ready for the day before Alec even began to stir from his sleep. Since he was paying for the room, she decided to pick-up breakfast for them at the local deli.

When she got back to the room, Alec was in the shower as she laid out the bagels, coffee, and individually wrapped cakes.

"Hurry up!" Max shouted when she was almost finished with her share and he was still in the bathroom.

"Hold on! I need to be ready for going into public," Alec called back through the door.

"Ha," Max scoffed. "Alec, that's never stopped you from leaving the apartment before. Why choose now?"

"Oh, really funny Max," he shot back and opened the door to the bathroom.

He stepped out in nothing but a pair of dark jeans. He bypassed her and grabbed an olive green T-shirt from off the bed and put it on. At the same time, his nose twitched and a gleeful smile crossed his face. As he was about to pick up his share of breakfast, Max swatted his hands away.

"What gives?" he demanded.

"You'll have to walk and eat because you took forever to get ready," Max declared.

Alec rolled his eyes and pushed his hand into his pocket. He pulled out a set of keys and jangled them in front of her. "We're not walking anywhere."

"Where'd you get a car from?" Max asked suspiciously as the other X5 made a beeline for his half of breakfast.

"Do you really want to know?" Alec inquired with his mouth full of bagel.

Max thought for a moment and sighed. "Probably not."

She took a seat on the bed as Alec hungrily tore through all the things she had bought.

She could feel how close she was to finding her mother. There was a chance Martina could even be at their destination today. It was a bit overwhelming. At the same time, she had to keep herself in check. There was also a good chance that this could all be a dead end. She wasn't quite sure how to cope with that either. Logan was usually there to help her sort things out, give her guidance. But she had decided she wanted to do this on her own.

"Okay, I'm done. Let's get this show on the road," Alec informed her.

Max smiled and in the blink of an eye snatched the keys from him. "If you thought I'd let you drive me anywhere, you've got another thing coming."

As she walked out of the room he said, "Great. Just don't drive us into the bay."

Max smacked him in the back of the head. "Shut up before I dump your body in the bay."

"Promises, promises," he mocked as they stepped onto the street. "Do you even know which car it is?"

Seeing the lines of parked vehicles up and down the street, Max shot Alec a dirty look when he stuck out his hand to have his keys returned. She handed them back to him.

"I have a feeling that I will kill you and dump both you and the car into the bay before this trip is over," Max grumbled.

* * *

A/N: Apparently, this is what the word "soon" means in my version of the time-space continuum. I know, not much happened but the next one has more going on. Thanks for reading!


	6. Place

**6: PLACE  
**

"You're sure this is the place?" Alec asked, his hands tightly on the wheel of the black Mustang Saleen Convertible he was driving.

Max sat beside him with a frustrated expression on her face as she read the house numbers and street signs again. It was the right address. It was everything else that was wrong.

It was a street full of houses surrounded by huge gilded fences and winding driveways. The home Max was looking for in particular was a large Victorian style manor that looked as though it had been untouched the Pulse. Perched atop the fence were several well-placed surveillance cameras that prevented Alec from slowing down or circling back by the place again.

He ended up pulling over to the curb in front of the park just a few blocks away. Though there had been no real plan other than driving by the place and perhaps glimpsing her mother through an open window somewhere, this had definitely caught them off guard.

Max wanted to kick herself for thinking that Tomas would give a real address. But this? No wonder the man had to stick to small time crime. "5715 Watercrest Terrace. That's the place."

"Hate to break it to ya Max, but this doesn't look like the sort of neighborhood a broke ex-dealer would be living in," Alec said in a dry and condescending tone. "Now, I don't want you to take this the wrong way but – I think we've been had."

Max simply glared at him and pulled out her cell phone. Logan had offered to look into the address, but she didn't have the patience to wait for his query. Now she would have to see what he'd found.

"Hey there, had a feeling you might call," Logan's voice answered after the second ring.

"So I'm guessing you know Tomas used a fake address too?" Max asked pointedly.

"An old Eli buddy of mine mentioned living in Watercrest Terrace before the Pulse," Logan mentioned, then continued on. "So I did some digging and the property belongs to Len Vogel. He's one of the biggest crime bosses in San Fran – underground gambling rings, racketeering, weapons possession, you name it and he's had the charges brought against him."

"But no one ever has enough proof of anything for it to hold up in court?" Max finished for him with a smile. Alec made a fake gagging face at them and Max turned away from him.

"Now the question is: why would Tomas Ledesma use Len's address? Even if they were working together, Ledesma is too low on the food chain to attach himself to Len like that," Logan said.

"Do you think the great Eyes Only could look into it for me?" Max asked.

"He'll do the best he can. In the meantime, stay away from Len Vogel. He's not the biggest crime boss in San Francisco for nothing," Logan replied. "Just be careful."

"Logan, I can take care of myself," Max reminded him in an annoyed tone.

"I know. But it doesn't stop me from worrying," he said gently. "I'll call you if I get a lead."

With no more than that, the conversation was over and Max sat there holding the phone a little longer than she should have.

"So what do we do now?" asked Alec.

Max glared at him. "I'm not leaving this town without finding my mother. I didn't come this far to just sit on my hands and wait."

Alec let out a sigh and turned the key in the ignition.

"Where are we going?" asked Max nervously as the car started to move.

Alec smirked. "Logan's got his sources and I've got mine. Whaddaya say?"

"Well, it's not like I've got something to lose," Max gritted out. "So where are we going?"

He pretended not to hear her as he made a sharp left turn.

After two more left turns and three right ones, into a noisy, crowded street full of shanty town shops. Further down the street, they started to see rundown buildings of a former manufacturing district. Max was seething in anger that he would tell her where they were going, but she could smack him around or he could hit someone or something.

Eventually, they parked in an alley beside a dilapidated brick warehouse with a sign reading 'Warehouse XXX' on it. Max rolled her eyes and opened the door to the car to get out.

"Do you have an internal homing device for strip clubs?" Max asked dryly. "How will this help me find Martina? And aren't all the hookers on strike?"

"I said there was a hooker strike, not prohibition. Besides, not all strippers are hookers," Alec said as if it was all common knowledge. He walked over to a steel door covered with rust and peeling paint and pulled it open. "My contact should be in here."

"You never answered my question about the homing device for strip clubs," Max replied, surveying the inside of the club before stepping in.

It was a backroom full of boxes and chairs and tables stacked on top of each other. The X5s still kept their guard up though no one appeared to be in the room.

"This place is run by someone who works with Len. If your mother is linked to him, maybe someone here might—"

His sentence was cut off by a light clicking sound that wouldn't have been heard by mere human ears. Max and Alec both stilled and exchanged a look. They knew that sound. It was the sound of the safety coming off a 9mm handgun.

"Who the hell's back there?" a deep female voice bellowed from the main area that another doorway led to. She must have seen them moving around. "If you're looking to rob the place, I suggest you try somewhere else. This is Vogel territory."

Conflicting urges to run and to face this hidden, armed woman warred between them. It didn't take much to guess which instinct belonged to whom.

"We're just here for information," Max shouted at the doorway, receiving a dirty look from Alec.

"It'd be safer to rob the place," the person shot back. "But if you're serious, put your weapons on the floor and kick them to the door."

"We're unarmed," Max told the person on the other side.

At the same time, Alec reached under the back of his shirt and pulled out a small handgun. Max scowled at him but he just shrugged nonchalantly as he emptied the magazine and kicked over. He wasn't dumb enough to hand over a loaded weapon. Or the small firearm still strapped to his left leg. That woman wouldn't believe they were unarmed. Not in this part of town.

"Thought you said you were unarmed," the voice said.

"I am. He's just an idiot," Max responded, her eyes trained on the hand reaching for the gun.

A woman about the same age as Logan came to the doorway, her gun trained on them as she picked up the gun on the floor. She was about the same height as Max with her dark hair pulled back into a ponytail. From the way she was dressed, it was obvious that she was either a waitress or a bartender.

"I'll be needing that back. I borrowed it off a sector cop and he will not be happy if I don't bring it back," Alec quipped.

"Stop talking before I accidentally forget the safety was off," the woman told him.

"Ignore him," Max said. "Listen, I'm looking for someone and maybe you or someone around here can help."

The woman eyed Alec suspiciously. "Then what's he here for?"

"He's just here so he can't get himself into trouble that I'll have to bail him out of later," Max explained as if it was a statement of fact.

"Hey, I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself," Alec said.

"Remember when Marina and Lil Sookie tied you to—" Max began the story with an evil smile.

"Typical man," said the woman, lowering her weapon after deciding that they weren't there to rob the place. "I'm Frankie. Information has a two drink minimum around here."

Max nodded. "I'm Max and that's Alec."

Alec gave her his best sexy grin, hoping to soften his captor.

Frankie smiled back and Max thought she would gag. "Well, aren't you pretty. I'm sure the boys back home tip big for you."

Max laughed as she watched Alec's face fall. Frankie was all right.

They followed Frankie to the bar. It wasn't twelve o'clock yet, so the bar was abandoned. The whole place seemed a bit too clean for a strip club. Frankie picked up on their assessment as she took her place behind the counter and they sat down on the stools.

"Business has been slow for the last two weeks with the strike," she explained. "What's your poison?"

"Corona—Scotch neat," Max and Alec said at the same time.

They shot each other annoyed looks. Frankie laughed and pulled out a beer from under the counter before going to get a glass for Alec's drink.

She nodded toward Alec. "Listen if her name was Arabella and she took your wallet, she doesn't work for us anymore and don't ask where to find her. She hasn't shown up to work since the strike."

"I wish I could say I got to sample the local culture, but she's been keeping me on my toes," Alec gestured at Max in a suggestive manner that earned him a push off the stool and onto the floor.

"You kids from around here?" Frankie asked.

"Seattle," Max informed her. Alec sat down on another stool two stools away from Max.

Frankie whistled as she poured Alec's drink. "Quite a way from home. Who're you looking for anyway? Better yet, why here? Lots of girls come through here because they ain't got nowhere to go and there ain't nobody looking for them… Well, not for anything good."

"Frankie! What the hell is a Mustang doing here? I told you to call me if Carter showed up," bellowed a man coming in from the back room.

Max cringed. She that voice. And that bad hair.

It was the greasy guy from the bus.

When he entered the room, his eyes went straight to Max and a lecherous smiled followed. If looks could kill, Alec would have died several lifetimes over on that bar stool from the glare Max was giving him. Alec impassive face could only mean one thing. This was his contact?!

"Well, well, well. Looks like you couldn't stay away from me after all," he said, deciding to walk closer to her.

Max shot the man a murderous look that made him rethink getting any nearer than he was.

"Burt, you know these guys?" Frankie asked in a surprised voice. "Max and Alec?"

"They were on the bus with me from Seattle," Burt replied, turning his head to acknowledge Alec's presence.

"I'm hurt. I thought I meant more to you than that," quipped Alec, taking another sip from his drink.

"You better be paying for that. And don't forget the tip," Burt said in a huff. Then he gestured at Max. "Hers is on the house."

"Ah yes, free beer is the way to a woman's pants, not her heart. How's that for a tip?" said Alec.

Burt opened his mouth to make some sort of retort, but Max cut him off.

"Listen, we're just here to get some info on a person and bounce," Max informed him. "Either you know something about Martina Ledesma, or you don't."

"Real diplomatic there Max," Alec said as he swirled the fine layer of amber-colored alcohol left in his glass.

"Shut up," she spat, and then turned to Frankie and Burt trying to see their reaction. She caught a glimpse of them exchanging a knowing look.

"Martina Ledesma? Does she go by anything else?" asked Frankie, her voice was a little strained in trying to keep the tone even.

"I don't know what her stripper name is, if that's what you're asking," Max replied.

"Don't know her," Frankie responded. She picked up a towel on the counter and started wiping glasses. She didn't even look at Max.

Even Burt seemed a bit put out by the question. Alec and Max exchanged suspicious glances.

"Martina was a friend of my mother's, and I just wanted to see her since I lost my mother. That's all," Max lied, making sure to keep her voice small and sympathetic.

"I don't know Martina personally, but I know that the name Ledesma is trouble," Burt said firmly. "And not the kind of trouble I'm willing to get tangled in."

Max bristled at their refusal. "I'm not looking for trouble. I'm looking for my family."

"What's the difference?" asked Alec. Max hopped off her stool and smacked him across the head.

Frankie slammed down the glass she was holding in frustration. "I want you out of here now. And if you know what's good for you, you'll never say the name Ledesma around here again."

Max recoiled and took a step away from the other woman. Whatever it was about the Ledesma clan, it obviously had them spooked. Maybe an incentive would help. "How much you want?"

"How much you got?" Burt asked, shamelessly eyeing her up and down for the tenth time since he had arrived.

Max made a disgusted face.

"Burt!" Frankie scolded.

"Stay out of it," he shot back.

Frankie shot him a dirty look, then right before going into the back storage room said, "I hope you catch something from the hooker you blow that money on."

"Two hundred would do? Half up front, half more if I decide if your information is worth my time," Max told him.

Burt scoffed.

Max gritted her teeth. "Two-fifty?"

"Three hundred and one performance here tonight," was his counteroffer.

"Trust me, the two-fifty was the better offer," Alec interjected and received an elbow to the ribs.

"Usually, I wouldn't be caught saying this, but you should listen to Alec," Max said.

"Then why you'd hit me?" demanded Alec.

"Two-fifty and you two work the nightshift here serving drinks and helping in the back pro bono," Burt said.

"Great," mumbled Alec. "It's every guy's dream job to work at a strip club with no strippers."

"We'll take it," Max said. "Now tell me what you know about the Ledesmas. Everything."

"Payment upfront policy here," Burt informed her. "I won't be telling you a thing until your shifts are up, that way you won't leave me high and dry. Be here at six o'clock sharp. And feel free to wear whatever you think will land you the most tips."


	7. Family

**7: FAMILY**

"I don't get why you agreed to this," Alec said as he stood in front of the mirror fixing his hair. "You could have just scared the daylights out of him to get the info like you do to everyone else."

"It's not just his information I'm after," Max said through the locked bathroom door.

She was checking out her reflection and admiring her handiwork. It had been a long time since she had a work out in the girly arts of primping and preening but she still had it. She would have to thank Cindy for convincing her to bring along that new violet halter top and black micro mini that accentuated her legs. While she didn't want to waste it on a strip club, it would help her blend in more than jeans and a T-shirt.

Alec grinned wickedly. "I thought he wasn't your type."

"Shut up, that's not what I meant," Max snapped as the bathroom door swung open.

He caught sight of her reflection in his mirror and spun to face her. His eyes did an appreciative assessment of her outfit that reminded him why he put up with her nonsense. That skirt was supposed to leave little up to the imagination, but his imagination was sent into overdrive on how to get the rest of it off.

"If you want, I can put on a pair of glasses and we can stay in tonight," Alec offered, looking her up and down again.

Max made a disgusted face and snatched the car keys away from him. "Not even if your life depended on it. Come on, let's get going."

Alec enjoyed the view of Max storming out of their room and silently cursed his luck. He had the hottest roommate he had ever had on a mission and she was off limits. He was sure part of the reason she was so tightly wound up was because she needed to get laid. And if he got laid in the process, all the better. But he wasn't counting on a change in his luck any day soon. Maybe he would find someone to hook up with tonight and then return in the morning to play Max's sidekick again.

Max gritted her teeth in annoyance when she replayed Alec's offer in her head. He was like a twelve year old boy with raging hormones and the same amount of self control. How he survived Manticore all these years was a mystery to her. Since the place burned down, he acted like an energetic dog that just found a way out of its leash.

Her skin bristled at his blatant reminder that she hadn't had sex in almost a year. Three years ago, before she had met Logan, she probably would have taken Alec up on his offer without a second thought. Sex was just sex, impersonal and inconvenient because it was usually driven by her heat cycle. Alec was exactly the kind of guy she typically went to in order to scratch her itch. But that was before Logan. Still, there were days that she felt a little deprived while waiting for the cure, waiting for that moment that it wasn't just about scratching an itch.

"You're late," Burt said, pointing at his wristwatch as they walked into the bar. "It's 7:45, you were supposed to be here at 7:00!"

"Believe it or not, this is the closest she's been to getting to work on time since I've met her," Alec informed him and received a shove from Max.

Frankie rolled her eyes as she surveyed the two of them. "Come on pretty boy, we got some crates to unload while Max sets up the tables."

"Got it," Max replied dryly as she picked up a rag and spray bottle from the counter.

As far as undignified things she would have to do in a strip club to get information, wiping down a couple of tables and chairs was not exactly the worst gig in the house. The only reason she had agreed to work for Burt was to see what Frankie knew about Martina. She had seemed to have a vested interest in Max's surrogate and Max would just have to gain her trust to learn what she needed.

"You sure you don't want to perform tonight?" Burt asked, moving close enough to her that she could hear his shallow breathing. "I can barely keep my eyes off you."

She looked up from the table she was wiping and looked him dead in the eyes. "I suggest you keep your eyes to yourself before I make you do a different kind of dance."

"Okay, okay," he said, raising his hands defensively and backing away. "You're one of those 'hard to get' types. I can appreciate that in a woman."

Thankfully, Burt's cell phone started ringing and he pulled it out of his pocket before walking to the other side of the room. When Max got back to Seattle, she was giving Normal a fruit basket for not being the sleaziest boss she ever worked for. Well, maybe just a grapefruit if they were selling them that week.

In all her time on the outside, Max had avoided working in places like Warehouse XXX, minus that brief stint at the Blowfish Tavern when she had to rescue that mermaid. While it had taken some cajoling from Alec to play along, she had done what she had to. It had been the same way when she and Cindy faked the bimbo act to scam those gamblers Sketchy owed money. She didn't have to do much to pass, she didn't need to let them touch her or to touch them, she just dressed the part.

For some reason, the idea of selling her body reminded her too much of Manticore. Both involved wearing an outfit that made her into an object and not a person. She would have to put on a routine like some trained animal to appease a bunch of men who saw her as a dollar amount. She would be laid bare to be manipulated and used… The thought almost made her feel ill and she pushed it aside. This was recon.

The night crept in and with it came the patrons of Warehouse XXX. The crowd was more upscale than she would have thought. Most of them were business men who had shed their Friday suit jackets and rolled up their shirt sleeves to enjoy the show, probably telling their wives it was just drinks with the guys from work. There were a few women too. Max felt their leering gazes bounce between her and the girls dancing on the stage, but she didn't let it faze her. She didn't even break the hand of the guy who grabbed her ass as she walked up to yet another table to take their orders.

"Hey baby, when do you get up there?" asked a guy sporting a crisp striped shirt with messy blond hair.

"Never," Max ground out, not appreciating his gaze. "I'm just here to serve drinks."

"So uh… where's your notepad then?" he inquired.

Max could see his three other friends shifting anxiously in their seats, waiting for her response. "Don't worry, I'll remember it."

He cast a disbelieving look at her and looked at his friends then back at her. "Really now? Okay then, we need a Red-Headed Slut, an Adios Motherfucker, one Sex with an Alligator, and a Jack Daniel's Lynchburg Lemonade to start us off… Got that?"

"Yeah, I got it," Max replied sourly as he took out his wallet and handed her a fifty dollar bill. "You know you can start a tab."

"I know that. All the drinks go on the tab, but that's for you. There's more if you decide to fill a private order," he informed her with a wink. His friends were nudging each other like a bunch of horny teenage boys who saw their friend talking to a girl for the first time.

Max bit down and swallowed whatever insults she would have liked to inflict on him. "How about I just get your drinks?"

"Well, to help with the decision-making process, you should know that I'm Carter Vogel, Len Vogel's nephew. So if you play real nice, I could definitely set you up." He was enjoying the view of her legs before looking up at her face again.

She quietly absorbed what he said with disgust and nodded. "I'll keep that in mind."

Carter winked at her as she turned away from him. "Remember, I'm down with you going up on stage… or going down on me. Don't listen to that crap that Lesdesma bitch is spouting."

Max's interest was piqued with that statement. "Who's Ledesma? I'm a bit new in town."

"She's just some crazy who has convinced a few girls to stop playing by the rules. I suggest you steer clear of her. She'll be taken care of soon enough," Carter told her. "Now hurry up with those drinks."

Was Martina the one who started the strike? Ledesma was a fairly common surname, but something told Max that this was something right up Martina's alley. She was starting to understand the hesitance surrounding Martina's name and couldn't help feeling a bit of pride that her mother stood up for the little guy. The thought of someone harming her because of that mustered up an instinctive need to protect her within Max.

She gritted her teeth and kept walking back to the bar. It looked like she would have to play nice with Carter in order to find out more. Even though Frankie was no longer her only source, still Max wanted to put on a good impression for her. But Alec was the one serving up drinks at the bar when she looked over there.

Frankie had decided that she needed a cigarette and had left Alec to cover for her. He had managed to catch the eye of a girl with unnaturally bright red hair and a lean body wrapped in mini black cowboy outfit with a matching hat. His trademark smirk was in place as the redhead leaned across the counter and receptive to his every advance. Over her head, he saw Max coming full speed at the counter and the expression on his face fell as he handed a glass of whiskey to a surly gentleman to his left.

"I better get going, my performance is in a few minutes," she pouted, drawing his focus back to her.

"How about we finish up this conversation after hours?" Alec said to his redhead in a husky tone. Even though he doubted that he'd get the chance to make good on that offer with Max around, he still had to give it a shot.

"I am sure you'd be worth my time… Just don't go narcing on me." She scribbled a phone number onto a napkin and pressed a kiss into it, leaving a red impression of the deep lipstick she had on.

"If you're as good as I think you are, we'll have nothing to worry about," Alec said with a grin. She sashayed off and Max watched her before turning back to face Alec.

"I see you're having a good time," Max said dryly as she went behind the counter and stood beside him to fill her orders.

Alec shrugged. "Just supporting the locals. You should try it some time. There's a place down the street—"

"Could you stop being a perv for like five minutes? Aren't they supposed to be on strike?" asked Max as she grabbed a few bottles of liquor from the back shelf.

"They're just not paying their share to Vogel and keep working on the down low as far as I can tell," Alec said as he served two more customers.

"Yeah, well your friend better be careful. See that dick in the corner with his cronies?" Max asked, nodding in their direction.

"I'm noticing a pattern with the men in your life. Maybe if I had some more cash in my life I could afford to get a kind word out of you?" Alec quipped.

"He's Vogel's nephew, you idiot," Max snapped. "He said that a Ledesma is behind the hooker strike. I need to spend some time with him to get more out info. Cover for me when Frankie gets back, okay?"

Alec whistled. "Man, I'm starting to think your surrogate is more of a killjoy than you are."

"And I'm starting to think your surrogate was a really stupid prostitute," Max shot back, placing all the drinks on the tray.

"Better than a bitter one," Alec countered.

"Lover's spat?" Frankie asked as she emerged from the back room, smelling strongly of cigarette smoke.

"Never."

"Hell no."

Frankie nodded incredulously. "Sure, whatever."

"I'm going to take my fifteen," Max said. "Alec's going to cover for me."

Before Alec could object, she walked off with her tray in hand. He gave a defeated shrug and resigned himself to his fate.

"Looks like it's just me and you," he said in a friendly tone, but Frankie didn't look at him.

Her eyes were trained to where Max delivered the drinks, then took a seat down at the table right next to Carter. "Does your friend always go chasing after the biggest amount of trouble she can find? First Martina, now Len's pet lackey?"

"Is there something you'd like to share with the rest of the class?" he asked nonchalantly, knowing it was a loaded question. Frankie obviously knew more about Martina Ledesma than she had let on, but wasn't very forthcoming about helping them.

"Yeah. Time to start waiting tables, pretty boy," Frankie replied, handing him a notepad and pen.

He didn't need either to remember his orders, he could still remember the encryption code on the Russian nuclear missile plans from when his Manticore days, but he had to play the part.

"You know, you could get rid of us much quicker if you just tell Max what she wants to know about her mother," Alec remarked.

"I don't know anything more than anyone else around here," Frankie said plainly. "Now get going. The natives are getting restless."

Alec gave her a curt nod and went off to wait tables.

Frankie wasn't quite sure what to make of Max and Alec. Her instincts told her that they seemed decent enough, but these days, even decent people were likely to have an unfriendly agenda. Watching Max curl around Carter's arm like any other girl in the place, Frankie knew a skilled manipulator when she saw one and she wasn't about to get played as easily.

"All the way from Seattle? Well, honey, I definitely want to give you the grand tour," Carter said as Max was practically sitting on his lap, batting her eyelashes at everything he said.

"I'll have to take you up on that offer," Max said. "I don't know anyone around here."

"Well, you're definitely getting in with the right crowd," he replied.

Max wanted to gag. She never liked missions that required close contact and ingratiation. Carter reminded her too much of her ex Darren which made him both sufferable and agitating, still he was infinitely preferable to Burt. Buttering him up was also a reminder that as far as arrogant bastards went, Alec was not necessarily the worst one she had been stuck with. He knew when to give her space and how to push her buttons for his own amusement, not out of malice. And she could just beat him senseless when she wanted answers.

"Yeah… I've been hearing things about that Lesdesma woman and she sounds like trouble," she interjected as casually as possible. "What's her story anyway?"

A scowl quickly spread across his face. "I suggest you steer clear of anyone siding with her. Martina has a few screws missing, and now she thinks Len did in her tramp of a sister, so she's trying to get back at him. Len has a handle on it though."

Max digested every word with rapt attention. Martina was big on family too. Max knew all too well what it was like to lose a sister… Memories of Tinga and Eva cut into her heart and she felt a pang of sympathy for Martina. If she were in the same position, she would raise a little hell too.

Carter probably thought she was interested him, which couldn't be further from the truth. His hand had originally been placed on her knee, but was slowly creeping its way up her thigh. Just before it reached the hem of her skirt, Max grabbed his hand firmly.

"Sorry, my break's up," Max pouted. "We'll pick this up later?"

A deep chuckle cut through the noise. Max would have ignored it if she hadn't heard the safety click off a nine millimeter. Then it became a chorus from her transgenic hearing. Twelve total.

"Sorry, but there's not gonna be a later for your boy," said the redhead Alec had been chatting up earlier.

She was holding the gun Max heard trained on Carter, while several other women held the rest of his company at gunpoint.

"What the hell is going on?" Carter demanded.

"You've got a meeting scheduled with an old acquaintance of ours," she replied.

"What the fuck are you doing? I'm not going anywhere," he hissed.

Max was caught between a rock and a hard place. Well, actually she was caught between a stripper with a bad dye job and handgun and an arrogant tool, a situation that was probably worse. She couldn't exactly slip out back into the crowd that didn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary, and she sure as hell didn't want to help Carter out of the situation he was in.

"My friend and I beg to differ," the redhead said, edging closer to him with the gun.

"Funny, I was about to say the same thing," Carter shot back, pulling his own gun from his pocket and putting the barrel against Max's head.

"Real pathetic," said the redhead, retaining her stance. "Typical Vogel scum."

"I suggest you get that gun away from me or your fellow hoe in training gets it," Carter replied.

Max felt her anger swell. There were only so many things Max could tolerate, but being called a 'hoe' wasn't one of them. His attention was on the redhead, imagining Max was some helpless girl he could turn his back on. She was far from it. In the blink of an eye, she grabbed his arm and twisted it away from herself, causing his hand to pull the trigger. A shot went into the ceiling before she wrestled the gun away from him.

The sound of gunfire was enough to send the room into chaos. The other patrons started rushing towards the exits and the girls were pushing them out of the way looking to escape. Carter's crew had taken advantage of the distraction to pull out their own weapons, and Max knew it was time to exit stage right.

She scrambled away from Carter and rushed toward the bar. The back exit was her best bet. As she pushed her way through the crowd, she heard more shots fired but couldn't tell if anyone had been hit. A hand grabbed her arm and her reflex to fight off her attacker kicked in. Max side-stepped him, before her fist stopped a mere centimeter away from his face. It was just Alec.

"I'd say we've sufficiently worn out our welcome in this town," Alec said, pushing her hand down and steering her toward the back.

They were almost behind the bar when Alec looked into the mirror above the wall.

"Max, watch out!" he exclaimed and pushed her onto the floor with his entire body.

Max let out a groan and rolled him off her. He winced in pain and sprang back to his feet. She had heard gunshots in the fray and it didn't take much for her to figure out what happened.

"No time to slow down," she said as soon as she was back on her feet, pulling him along.

They slipped through the door and much to their relief they found no one in the backroom. When they made it through the door leading into the alley, Alec tossed his car keys to Max. She caught them without a second thought and started the engine.

"Don't bleed all over the seat," she told him as she shifted gears and looked around before driving into the street.

"I'll do the best I can," Alec gritted as he clutched his shoulder. "What the hell just happened back there?"

"Apparently, Martina and Len Vogel have a score to settle," Max said, making a sharp left turn. She made a mental note to look into getting a car like this one someday.

"I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you correctly. She's gunning for Vogel?" he scoffed. "You would think she'd be glad to have Manticore off her back? No. She's got to play protector of the down-trodden. Now I see where you get it from."

"Actually, from what I can see, it's completely a personal vendetta," Max informed him. "Vogel murdered her sister."

Alec winced again but not from the bullet wound. "Is everything always this complicated with you?"

Max pulled the car into a parking spot across from their hotel. "Only when it comes to family."

* * *

A/N: Thanks to everyone for their reviews and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!


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